RAKU II

Back to Primary for another adventure in flaming bins and incalculable, glaze transformation.

It was chilly, but the sun was bright and spirits were high as the mornings test pots were selected for the first firing of the day. A little like the first pancake out of the pan, it’s probably going to be sacrificial, a pilot for the future of your chosen direction. Mine was a straight sided cup, a basic thrown form, perfect to get a feeling for how the rest of the days wares would fire. Submerged at an angle into thick white glaze, then slowly lifted and the contents poured back out. A couple of minutes later it was dry and placed into the furnace to fire with a nonchalant air. Whilst it was doing it’s thing I sloped off to Small Food Bakery for a drop of coffee and possibly lingered a little longer than I should, returning to find my pot ready for quenching. It looked unremarkable, like a piece of rolled up newspaper, but after a scrub in the tin bath it came out shimmering white with silvery grey swashes, akin to the foaming sea crashing against dark rocks.

The rest of the day was spent trying to replicate this effect, and failing to get even close. Raku knows when you stop being spontaneous, and punishes you for it.